Lady Raiders basketball notebook: Missing Mallard

Senior forward Kierra Mallard shot off to a hot start Wednesday, scoring seven points in the opening two minutes.

Her 3-pointer at the 18:09 mark was the last field goal she made, though. Mallard finished with eight points and was held scoreless in the second half.

Asked after the game what caused the letdown, Tech coach Kristy Curry was stumped.

"You know I don't really have an answer for that," Curry said Wednesday. "I'm speechless as far as just -? I don't have any answer."

On Thursday, Mallard said she wasn't being aggressive enough.

"I don't think I was asking for the ball," she said. "I wasn't being aggressive. I was being passive and letting my team play. ... I only had eight touches so I think now my team needs me so I have to be there, be the leader and be vocal. I'm going to ask for the ball more."

Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale seemed confused by Mallard's disappearance. She said her Sooners didn't do anything different to try and stop Mallard after the hot start.

"We didn't even really address it in the second half, and it was something we had harped on the entire time in preparation," Coale said. "We were very concerned about her, obviously, coming into the game. And she gave us cause for that early on. But then they began to hit the 3s and we began to get more concerned about that. I think they got a little more concerned about shooting those than throwing it to her, to be quite frank."

Mallard finished with a game-high 11 rebounds. She also had three blocks to move into second place on Tech's all-time list with 192. She passed Crystal Boles, who had 191 blocks over a four-year career.

Winless in Norman

Texas Tech hasn't won a road game in Norman, Okla., since 2005, and the Lady Raiders have only beaten OU once in the last 14 tries.

The Lady Raiders beat the Sooners at United Spirit Arena last year to stop a 10-game losing streak against them.

The last Tech win at Lloyd Noble Center came on Feb. 23, 2005, when former coach Marsha Sharp's Lady Raiders downed the Sooners 83-70.

Fast start

Texas Tech has been working toward getting off to faster starts, and one of the positives from Wednesday's loss was a white-hot start for the Lady Raiders.

Tech scored 15 points before the first media timeout - including seven from Kierra Mallard - and shot 6 of 9 during the first four minutes.

"We do want to have a fast start," junior guard Monique Smalls said. "We're a running team, we want to push the tempo because when we push the tempo we get easy baskets and don't let the defense set up."

Compiled by David Just

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